WINTERSET, Iowa – Emotions ran high and seats were scarce Tuesday morning as Madison County residents packed the Board of Supervisors meeting to witness what has become the latest focus in a series of local government controversies.

By 9:15 a.m., every chair in the Annex basement meeting room had been filled with people lining the back wall and, eventually, the outside hallway as community leaders debated over who currently holds the County Auditor seat and what the future for the position looked like.

The confusion stemmed from the recent resignation of the elected Auditor Teri Kaczinski and the subsequent appointment of Matthew Schwarz on July 3. But as Winterset resident Marisa Schneider pointed out, a key legal misstep followed.

“An Auditor was appointed by the BOS on July 3rd and sworn in on the 7th,” Schneider said during the public comment portion. “I understand the public announcement was inaccurate because the announcement failed to inform the citizens of their right to a Special Election. Therefore, the appointment should be invalid. So, who is the county Auditor today?”

That is a question that WHO 13 had been working to answer since last Wednesday, when Auditor Schwarz was reportedly asked to leave his office in the courthouse and not return until the legal appointment had been made.

An inquiry from WHO 13 to staff in the Auditor’s office was deferred to County Attorney Stephen Swanson. Swanson said it was unclear after a post on the Auditor’s Website, reportedly directed by Schwarz himself, described the seat as “vacant.”

The issue fueled a tense and at times chaotic meeting, highlighted by outbursts, sharp exchanges, and a roughly 12-minute back-and-forth between Board Chairwoman Heather Stancil and her own professional legal representation.

“Help me understand, do we or do we not have an Auditor, because you kicked him out of the office last week,” Stancil said during the exchange in front of the crowd.

“That’s because you and he combined, posted something that said we had a vacancy last week,” Swanson responded, referring to Stancil and Schwarz.

The notice was posted publicly online after it was discovered that the initial public notice of the appointment failed to inform residents of their legal right to petition for a Special Election. It is unclear how or why the language was left off.

The issue is just one of several others that have plagued the county since January of this year, including the arrest and upcoming criminal trial for the elected Treasurer, alleged money mismanagement within the Treasurer’s office, controversy surrounding the elected Auditor, and several reported criminal investigations, including one recently announced surrounding Supervisor Stancil for alleged election misconduct by Sheriff Jason Barnes. In response, Stancil filed a lawsuit against the Sheriff and then a Temporary Restraining Order in Federal court to stop investigators from accessing her mobile devices after the Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant at her home. She withdrew the motion for the TRO the following day, stating she had been provided sufficient relief in a state court. However, WHO 13 has not been able to find a record in the Iowa online court database.

The firestorm of issues has left residents frustrated for different reasons, with the crowd drawing both critics and supporters of the board.

“Here we are again, a packed room. This is not normal, right? I’ve said this before,” said Winterset resident James Phillips during public comment on Tuesday.

“The overwhelming majority of people in this county, when they had this voice, chose to put you two on this board to hold the line — and you have done so,” said Landon Keim of Earlham to Supervisors Stancil and Jessica Hobbs, who traditionally have voted together. Often, Supervisor Diane Fitch is the lone vote in opposition.

But others, like Winterset resident Hannah Davis, pushed for accountability.

“If the community feels that yet again another unqualified candidate has been put into the position in our community and they shouldn’t be, then let the community vote on it,” she said over the phone after calling in to the meeting.

That is exactly what will happen.

Initially, the meeting agenda had included a resolution to approve the appointment of Schwarz, and then a second swearing-in ceremony was expected to be held. Instead, the board voted 2-1 to table the resolution and allow Schwarz to return to the position as ‘Temporary Auditor.’

“Am I no longer under risk of arrest if I return to my office?” Schwarz asked as he poked his head in from the back hallway after the decision was made.

He appeared to be prepared for the move. A short time later he delivered a 25-minute presentation during the meeting’s ‘New Business’ portion on findings from his first week in office. Among them, he identified several processes and policies that he believed could be improved or streamlined, including the county’s employee credit card system, its purchase agreement procedures, and the payroll software.

While he works more on learning the office processes, others will be working on an effort to replace him. Deputy Elections Commissioner Mikayla Simpson confirmed the validity of the petition for a Special Election during the meeting.

“The petition should be legally accepted based off of every single Auditor I have talked to,” she said. “I have talked to multiple around the state.”

The three-woman Republican board formally accepted the petition and scheduled a Special Election for August 26th.

But still, many are not happy about all of the recent chaos- and statewide attention- the county has received in recent months.

Jeff Smuck, a member of the Madison County Central Committee, said the county is usually pretty “quiet” and that a lot of the negative attention seems to stem from political dissonance.

“We got a lot of big spending that had went on over the years, and it brought attention to, you know, the voters and we, you know, had some candidates elected that are are going to lower our taxes and cut some of this big government spending,” Jeff Smuck told WHO 13’s Katie Kaplan after the meeting. “And (sic) when those elected officials got voted out, that’s when everything turned to chaos.”

Judy Neal, who leans liberal, said she has her doubts about ever seeing a break in taxes amid the turmoil.

“I don’t think they’re really lowering taxes. We’ve got to pay for these county services,” she said. “I’ve had to have the ambulance go three or four times since last year, and I don’t want to see that service stopped or lowered.”

The next Board of Supervisors meeting is scheduled for August 12 — just two weeks ahead of the August 26 Special Election that will determine who officially serves as the next Madison County Auditor.